The philosophies of men mingled with the philosophies of women.

Learning from prophets — Spencer W. Kimball and Gordon B. Hinkley

“We do wish that there would be no racial prejudice. … Racial prejudice is of the devil. … There is no place for it in the gospel of Jesus Christ” — President Spencer W. Kimball, 1982.

“I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church of Christ.” — President Gordon B. Hinckley, 2006.

Given events in Charlotte, I keep thinking about some of my male colleagues at Amex years ago in SLC who said they supported the diversity groups but they felt like if they tried to put together a diversity group for white males it wouldn’t be allowed. First, Amex did allow it, but second, it’s an embarrassment that they would even ask such a thing. These are people who otherwise supported equal pay, even affirmative action, but also concurrently felt the loss of privilege was unfair. The only men I’ve ever worked with who have suggested such things have been Mormons. There’s something wrong in our culture that’s creating this lack of empathy and this utter cluelessness about their privilege.

Great quotes but we do have a lot of racist history in the Church we have not come to turns with. I also do not mean to sound 2 critical but I was appalled at how poorly Trump handled the situation with the protest. Where are our leaders speaking out on this situation? Way too silent for my taste.

I’m with Angela C’s comment. The absolute lack of awareness/tone deafness on the part of many white Christians is staggering. Also, I think it’s both important and sickening to realize that the racist “doctrine” in the Mormon Church that, frankly still lingers today, breeds exactly the kind of hatred we saw in Charlottesville when it’s combined with a kind of monomaniacal extremism. Despite our prophets’ words, I think we need to acknowledge that our own racist past is not at all far removed from what we saw in Charlottesville. And we have a president who, by refusing to unequivocally condemn this kind of thing, is complicit in it. Shocking and horrifying.